Formulation of the Claim
Arkoun calls for moving beyond inherited interpretations in order to reach the Qur’anic discourse itself.
Explanation
Arkoun holds that understanding the Qur’an is not completed through inherited exegesis alone, because such exegesis remains bound to historical layers that have added to the text what is not the text itself. He therefore turns attention to the Qur’anic discourse as an object of direct understanding, not merely as an extension of what has become fixed in older commentaries.
For him, this move beyond is tied to studying the social and cultural contexts surrounding the text, and to paying attention to the effect of social imaginaries in the formation of meanings across the ages. The point is not to abolish the exegetical tradition, but not to suffice with it when it obscures the original text or reduces it to later formulations.
Its Place in the Book’s Argument
This atom falls within Arkoun’s broader effort to reopen the field to a critical reading of Islamic discourse, so that understanding does not remain hostage to exegetical accumulation alone. It intersects with his theses that connect the text to its historical context and distinguish between the level of revelation and the level of later representations shaped by societies and institutions.
Limits of the Claim
This atom should not be burdened with a categorical judgment on the value of the entire exegetical tradition, nor understood as a call to sever ties with every earlier reading. It is specifically a call to move beyond mere reliance on inherited tradition when that tradition stands in the way of access to the text itself.
Brief Evidence Passage
Arkoun holds that understanding the Qur’an is not completed through inherited exegesis alone, because such exegesis remains bound to historical layers that have added to the text what is not the text itself. He therefore turns attention to the Qur’anic discourse as an object of direct understanding. The aim is to reach the text itself, not merely to rely on what has become fixed in older commentaries.
Related Links
- Readings in the Qur’an
- Islamic thought: critique and ijtihad
- The Human Formation of Islam